This invention relates to snowblowers, and more particularly to tractor-powered snowblowers.
Conventionally, a tractor will have the capability for the attachment of a snowblower on the forward or rear end of the tractor utilizing a hitch system. The tractor will also have a power take-off (PTO) system for providing operating power to the snowblower through a PTO shaft. Snowblowers are generally designed to operate in conjunction with a particular tractor or relatively small family of tractors because of differences in the operating characteristic between different families of tractors.
One difference between tractor families is size. A snowblower is generally designed to have a complimentary size to the tractor size, to minimize the angle assumed by the communicating PTO shaft. The benefit derived from minimizing the angle of the PTO shaft is a reduction in chatter of the snowblower during operation. Another difference between tractor families is the speed at which the PTO system operates. As a result, the snowblower will have a complimenting internal gearing in view of the particular tractor famility it is intended to operate with to produce optimum through-put. That is, because optimum snowblower through-put is generally achieved at a snowblower operating speed different from the tractor's PTO system speed, the snowblower gearing is particularly matched to PTO speed.